Highway Hearts
by Cheer-The-Underdog-On
Summary: Runaway on the highway heading to Alaska (But not really?) and Axel's just doing his job. A short story on feelings, love, and country music. M for sexual reasons.


He lives in greens. Blues. Reds. Colors brighter than the corals and fish of the ocean. More illuminant than the stretches of nebula in space. Axel comes to the conclusion that he's lost, looking for something, but he could be wrong. Continuing to slurp down his coffee, the radio blares something his brain processes as rubbish. He clutches the mug handle tight continuing to psychoanalyze the other until the teen from outside enters. His face is thin, worn, like he's been used a bit too much. The blond's eyes remind him of the blue of his favorite pair of threadbare jeans.

An exchange of simple words begins. "Mind if I sit here?" The hitchhiker asks taking the seat next to the redhead at the bar. They face open windows. From out of them, Axel can see the seas of Kansas grass that extend on for miles. Taking a couple of crumpled dollar bills out of the pocket of his army surplus jacket, the new comer to the diner orders eggs. Over easy. Axel immediately takes a liking to him.

"Where ya from?" He croaks out a bit too rough. The trucker blames pre-coffee, but he can't say that.

"Virginia." The answer is cut into stone. Crisp and dry. The word severs the two of them. Axel is country. The kid is East Coast.

"Virginians don't hitchhike." The redhead snorted. He was a truck driver; he should know. He'd seen hitchhikers from Alaska to Alabama. People from nice places simply just didn't hitchhike. "Where ya from?"

"No really." The blond replied earnestly, "Virginia."

"Ah." He's a Tennessee man himself. Must have been some hellhole for the blond to leave Virginia. Axel loves the trees there, and D.C. is beautiful with all that white marble stone.

They eat next to each other in silence, and then, without a word, the younger man stands and leaves.

They meet again four hundred miles north two days later, "What are the chances?" Axel laughs, "Where ya headin'? I'm on my way back from a job." He's pulled over on the side of the highways. The teen is staring up at him.

"Alaska." The word is cool. The redhead shivers just at the thought.

He can't resist his impulse; he wrinkles his nose at the idea, "You're one of them minimalists 'Into the Wild' type aren't you?" He gets his answer in a look, "I'm headin' to Alaska here in a few days if you want to stick around. Gotta do some driving down south first. What's your name?"

At first the shorter man seems to decide against it, but then his mind reasons to him that this is a good opportunity, "Roxas."

"Axel."

Roxas may not talk much, but he likes his eggs over easy and doesn't mind when Axel sings off tune to country. The redhead decides he can stay.

~o~

"I thought you said we'd be heading to Alaska soon." The blond whines after a few days of sitting in Axel's passenger seat.

"I said we would, but I had some driving to do first. I got my job first. This next one is up north, and I'll take you all the way up to Prudhoe Bay." The words are a twisted lie. The trucker doesn't want the other to go because it has been forever since company and no one this smart has ever wasted their time with talking to him. "So you've listened to me bitch n' moan about my life a couple 'o' days now. Tell me about yer'self." He slows down to get onto an exit. A sharp look stabs him again, and green eyes roll as a long sigh escapes his lips, "Oh pardon me, yer'magesty. I'm soooo sorry. I didn't realize."

"I said I was from Virginia. It's the truth. Isn't that enough?"

"Nope, sorry." Axel laughs, "Time to open up and share. I got two thousand miles until we start heading your way, so if you want to stay, better let me hear that voice of yours."

Roxas grumbles before speaking real slow. Almost like he's afraid Axel won't be able to catch it all or will miss something. The redhead would normally be offended, but he knows he's not the brightest. He flunked out of high school after all, so he shuts up to listen. "I ran away from home." The blond cracks out as if it's the first time he has said it. "I just…I didn't like it. It wasn't for me. I hated school. I don't want to go to college. Everyone tells me how smart I am, and I'm ready to call it quits. It was either leave or kill myself. So I…"

Axel doesn't say anything when the blond pauses. He knows how it feels when you want to gather your thoughts.

"I had my mom pull out all my money. I said I was going to use it to buy the car I had been saving up for, but instead, I used it to buy all my hitchhiking stuff. I left that day. Haven't looked back. I know they're worried and probably think someone took me, but I don't care. All my mom did was spew at me about finding the right girl and performing well in football. All my dad did was talk to me about college and grades. I've wanted to be a farmer since I was seven. I couldn't ever have that if I stayed there."

Nodding real slow, the trucker pats his young friend on the back, "Mkay, sounds like you don't really need to go to Alaska. If you want to be a farmer, I can help you out."

A boyish face opens up to him, "Really?" His smile is cute, and Axel feels that familiar feeling in his stomach that tells him that he needs to get a grip and start praying again. Hell, if he's a runaway, this kid is only fifteen or something. That's illegal.

"Really. Hey Rox, weird question, but how old are you?" He actually had never asked. Sometimes the blond is really mature. Othertimes not. It throws him off.

"Seventeen." Oh yeah, now he remembers. Fifteen year olds don't buy cars.

Axel coughs a bit and rolls down his window a sliver to get some fresh air, "Well that's good." He doesn't know who for: him or the kid. "I can get you a job at seventeen. I have some friends in Montana that can help you out. If you were sixteen or under, we'd have to wait a bit." The man laughs slowly and wonders why he's doing this for some well off kid who ran away from a decent future, a thing Axel would have killed for.

Roxas' smile makes it clear to him, though. He likes the kid. That's why he's doing it.

~o~

"Truth is: I never wanted to go to Alaska." Roxas whispers to him across the room one night when Axel finally decides to stop being cheap and go for the luxury of a motel room. He gets a dirty look from the lady behind the counter as he asks for a room until he tacks on 'for me and my cousin'. It is the Bible Belt after all.

"Yeah, I kind of figured. I don't think most of them guys who go up there really do it to find themselves anyways. I think they've got something to prove to the world, and you don't seem like you've got much to prove, Rox. I think you already know yourself pretty well." He pardons himself as he remembers that he needs to brush his teeth. Truckers get good dental, but that doesn't mean he wants to use it. When he comes back from the bathroom, Roxas is sitting on the edge of his bed, and Axel struggles to suck down air. "Roxas, what are you doing? Don't do this."

The blond bites his lip and his face bunches up like he's about to cry, "But..."

"Look, you n' I both know that there's enough sexual tension shootin' across that cab to make porn stars blush, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do anything. You're young. I'm old. I have a shitty job. I don't even know where you're going to be in a week. You could leave tomorrow if you wanted." But that's not exactly true because just like a house cat, Roxas has put on weight from being fed regularly and has come to know the niceness of a heater again.

"Just one kiss." He demands, clutching the sheets as he sits there in his boxers, "Just one...please?"

Axel gives him a pained look before muttering out defeatedly a sound of consent. Taking the seat next to the teen, he grunts before pushing their lips together in a gentle exchange.

The fireworks the two get would be illegal in most states.

Roxas knows right then and there that he has fallen in love with a redheaded, freckled, cussing, Tennessee man who loves a good story, country music, and over easy eggs.

And that's okay.

In fact, that's just the way things should be.

~o~

Roxas and Axel are going through his hometown almost twelve months later in the fall, but this time it's not for work. The redhead is visiting a relative, and the blond is coming with him for the simple reason that they both enjoy the company. The teen notes that his school still looks the same. Run down in a sad sort of way. Prison like. His friend's house still needs to be painted. They stop in front of a home that Roxas had walked by hundreds of times growing up, but he had never known who had lived there. Now he does.

Axel's great-aunt greets them with a smile and hug that could squeeze the evil out of the devil. The smell of chocolate chip cookies sends his mouth watering. "Axel, you should have told me he was so...young." The two lock eyes for a moment. Is he legal?

Whatever. She must decide. It doesn't matter. It's not like she hadn't tried to do something about the 'situation' before.

They talk about college, love, sports, the future. All the sort of things Roxas ran away from, he is confronted with in this house. Axel handles all these things with his simple gentleness, but it makes the blond realize a few things.

God, he had been fucking spoiled.

Here he was running off to the country to become a simple farmer when Axel had worked twice as hard as he ever had just to end up a trucker.

Not that a trucker was a bad thing; a farmer was good too.

When they leave, Roxas gets a bit needy. Panting a bit, it lets the redhead know that he's wanting a quickie. Hard. A bit rough. Nothing loving or special.

But sometimes Axel has needs to, and his right now is for silence.

It's a long car ride to the motel.

~o~

When they fuck, sometimes it's like they're animals. Gnashing teeth, scraping nails, harsh movements. They don't need to kiss or say anything. Roxas opens his eyes when the ordeal is done to make sure Axel is okay. Holding the redhead tight, he whispers, "I'm sorry." Over and over and over again, "What did you want to be?"

"A nurse. Some people just aren't that smart, though." He couldn't make the grades even if he tried. The redhead's voice is fragile. Like he's just about to cry.

Roxas wishes he'd let Axel top now, but everything is done.

~o~

Roxas' mom and dad finally find him. He's twenty-two living in a cute yellow house with white shutters to match the fence that Axel and he had painted in the spring. It's located somewhere on the Great Plains, but too far out there to be precise. Montana has jurisdiction. The grass in the yard is long, but that's because his neighbors to either side are ten miles away and they don't care. The chickens they keep don't care either.

The two are standing on his porch, faces are filled with concern, and he opens the door with tan skin from laboring hard out underneath the sun. Axel's gone on another drive, but he'll be back in a week or two. The time away doesn't bother the blond because the redhead can barely look at another man, let alone touch one. "Roxas?" They ask like it's not really him, and for a moment, he doesn't think the name fits either.

"Hi." The word grates on their ears because it's not what they thought it be. This is no rescue. "Come on in." He leads them to the living room where a comfortable but none too fancy couch sits in front of a TV that dates back to the 90's. The two had found it at a garage sale, and it worked fine, so it'd found a place in their home.

At first he thinks they're going to yell at him in this surrealist setting. Like he's still a kid, but instead they simply cry. "We thought you were dead!" His mom sniffles.

Guilt settles in. It has been almost six years. "Yeah well…"

"How could you just leave!" Now his father begins because he has worked his nerve up, but before he can say anything, Roxas opens his mouth.

"Don't you yell at me!" He manages, clenching his fists, "This is my house! You will not yell at me." The blond states wishing Axel was here because he'd know how to handle this. Something about the redhead makes everyone calm.

His dad's eyes are wide, "We're taking you away from here, Roxas. This has been a traumatic few years for you, and we are willing to press charges."

Mouth working on his own, he replies automatically."You can't press charges unless you have proof there is a crime. What's the crime here?"

"Why…" His mother struggles for words, "You were kidnapped! You ran away and some horrible man snatched you up! You've probably suffered all kinds of things!"

He snorts, "Axel? Horrible? News flash: I did run away, but not once in these last few years have I tried to leave him. I don't want to. He listens to me and treats me well. We love each other."

His mom had always said she was open minded and didn't care if anyone was gay, but...but not her kid! The two both prepare for a lecture, but Roxas stands to open the door again, "Please come back in a few weeks. If you want to be involved with my life, then you may, but please come back when my boyfriend is home."

Shocked, the two struggle with what to do with themselves. Politely, they nod, "O-Okay."

Whether they go back to Virginia or stay in Kansas for those weeks, Roxas doesn't know.

And honestly, he doesn't care. How dare the past catch up with him.

~o~

Roxas tells Axel once he's already inside and the redhead is thrusting slowly, trying to make his thighs quiver and his voice quake. The change in mood is so fast, he can feel the redhead go limp. "What?"

"My parents came to see me."

"No, I heard that part. What'd you say to 'em? Are they still in town?"

"I just...told them to come back later. I'm here of my own accord, babe. This is your house. I work the land. I'm not leaving." The blond tries to rub Axel's back to comfort him, "Finish?"

"Um...sure." The redhead laughs, shaking his head in disbelief. "Jesus Rox, you sure pick the times to tell a man something."

~o~

They are invited to visit two months later for Christmas, and Axel says they can afford it, so they decide to make the trip, "Plus I wanna see my aunt." He kisses the blond's forehead as he sits down in his plane seat. "I love you."

Roxas closes his eyes to take a nap (drug induced. Thank you Niquil), "Love you too."

When he opens them, they're coming over the Potomac, and his boyfriend is cooing softly at him to wake up. "Your parents are meeting us there, right?"

"Hmm...? Yeah."

Long story short, the trip is abruptly ended. Things don't go as planned, and Axel cusses his parents out at least twice before they're heading back to Montana, "Blood is thicker than water!" His mother shouts as them as they head for the curb.

Roxas flips her off, "I'm not coming back!"

"What are you going to do? Hitchhike?" His dad is there at his mother's side and the fact that they can't see that Roxas and Axel love each other pisses the redhead off.

"So what if we do? Fuck you! You two apparently have never loved him like I have! If you did, you would have stopped spewing that 'get your life back on track' shit to him the moment we came in the door! You're fucking lucky I even let him come! I almost told him he shouldn't because I thought this would happen just from the way you were described to me!"

"You're just some low bred ignoramus! What do you know?"

Anger turns Axel's face almost as red as his hair, "I may not know a lot book wise, but I know more about people and how to treat them right than you ever will! Come on Rox, we're walking." He takes the blond's hand and begins to lead him away.

"Don't come back!"

Roxas laughs, "You're the one who came and tracked me down!"

When they're back on the plane after spending a few days with Axel's aunt, he nuzzles his lover."No wonder you left." Axel clutches Roxas' head to his chest, so he can pet soft dandelion fluff hair. "If I'd known your home like had been like that, I wouldn't have asked."

The man laughs as they get a few glares from other passengers, "I love you." Roxas sits back up to kiss his boyfriend's nose.

Axel wiggles his ears a bit as he breaks out into a grin, "I love you too."

~o~

The trucker isn't always home, but when he is, he sleeps in because "Boy is that bed comfortable!" The runaway makes him breakfast: eggs. Over easy. Black coffee. Bacon.

They listen to country music softly as the early morning light filters in revealing sunbeams. Axel teases the blond, "You need to be a better wife and clean more."

"You need to be a better wife and make us some babies." Roxas counters, getting up to kiss the top of Axel's head and wash some dishes.

A pang goes through the older man's heart because the two both know that they want children. In their economic class, adoption is impossible, and it'd almost be easier to go knock the town whore up and get the baby from her. Not that romantic, though. Playing with his bacon for a moment before taking a large crunchy bite, the redhead thinks the future over. They have the farm; they have the love. They have mostly everything they want.

So they can't have everything.

But who can?

"Hey Rox," He purrs slowly, slinking up to trap his house cat against the counter, "Want to go try and make some?"

The shorter man snorts, "Try and go make babies? Don't we already try enough?"

"Yeah but maybe we're practicin' wrong?" He laughs, slipping his hands around a thin waist to begin undoing Roxas' belt.

"Oh yeah?" The blond inhales deeply as he feels warm lips against his neck, "Maybe we are...Why don't you show me the right way to make babies, mister?" He turns around in Axel's arms and kisses him.

The redhead laughs and admires his Roxas' face in the sunlight. Bright blue eyes. Full pink lips. No longer a boy. Beautiful. Never leaving. Reliable. Faithful. Forever. "Mmm, right this way, sugar."

So maybe they can't have everything.

But who needs everything when one has over easy eggs, fall, a good story, black coffee, bacon, and country music?

Oh, and don't forget love.

* * *

**Read and Review. Layla Betaed. I love some country akuroku.**


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